Ashley Gill-Webb, 34, of South Milford, near Leeds, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was found guilty of public disorder at Stratford Magistrates' Court, east London, last month.

He was sentenced to an eight-week community order today.

District Judge William Ashworth, sitting at Thames Magistrates' Court, told Gill-Webb: "Your intention was to target the highest-profile event at the London Olympic and put off Usain Bolt.

"The potential harm of triggering a false start was significant. By good fortune, you failed.

"You did, however, spoil the occasion for some spectators and tarnish the spirit of the Games."

Tom Barley, defending, said Gill-Webb risked inflicting "massive embarrassment on the country" by his behaviour.

Gill-Webb will be electronically-monitored and be subject to a 7pm to 7am curfew. He was also ordered to pay a £1,500 contribution to costs.

The judge said: "You suffer from bipolar disorder. At the time of the offence, you were in the throes of a manic episode. This made you over-confident and your behaviour risky.

"I have reduced your punishment to take account of the effects of your illness."

Gill-Webb used an old ticket to get into the Olympic Park and then the stadium on August 5.

He hurled abuse at athletes, including Jamaican sprint star Bolt, and then threw a bottle on to the track as the final began.

It landed behind the lane markers and the world's top sprinters as they exploded out of their blocks in the showpiece race.

Bolt, the world record-holder and defending champion, won in 9.63 seconds, ahead of Jamaican team-mate and 2011 world champion Yohan Blake. The US's Justin Gatlin, the 2004 100m Olympic champion, won bronze.

Gill-Webb was found guilty of intending to cause 100m finalists harassment, alarm or distress by using threatening, abusive or disorderly behaviour, contrary to Section 4 of the Public Order Act. The judge said Gill-Webb's behaviour was "serious" enough to demand punishment but he thought he was unlikely to offend again.

The high-profile nature of the incident and the fact that the world was watching were aggravating factors, along with the location from which the bottle was hurled, according to prosecutor Helen Shaw.

It was a "once-in-a-four-year event watched by millions of people around the world", she said.

"Some of the people who were in that area missed the event and had paid up to £4,000 a ticket."

Mr Barley, defending, said Gill-Webb has since lost his job through the bad publicity triggered by the case and has two young children to look after, the court heard.

Mr Barley said: "He would have looked like a drunken yob on that occasion."

Noting that alcohol did not have any influence, Mr Barley suggested that for someone dealing with a mental illness on a day-to-day basis, "it must have been the worst day for it to happen, in the 100m final".